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C
razy Horse Memorial is the world’s
largest mountain carving in progress.
Located in the Southern Black Hills,
Crazy Horse Memorial is 17 miles from Mount
Rushmore National Memorial and five miles
north of Custer.
The dream began in 1939 when Lakota Chief
Henry Standing Bear asked sculptor Korczak
Ziolkowski to create a memorial to show that,
“…the red man has great heroes, also.” The me-
morial Ziolkowski created is a representation of
the Lakota leader, Crazy Horse, riding his horse
while gesturing in the distance toward the Black
Hills declaring, “My lands are where my dead
lie buried.”
The official beginning of the massive carv-
ing took place June 3, 1948, with the first blast
on the mountain. It was Ziolkowski’s dream to
create a memorial to honor the Indians of North
America and that would be carried out and com-
pleted by the American people. To this day, the
Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation does not ac-
cept government funding. Work is continued
through admission fees and private donations.
The early work on the mountain was done by
Ziolkowski, his wife, Ruth, and their 10 chil-
dren. After Ziolkowski’s passing in 1982, the
project was carried on by Ruth, who was re-
sponsible for the completion of Crazy Horse’s
face in 1998. She also expanded the Indian Mu-
seum of North America® and in 2010, started
the Indian University of North America®,
which is accredited by the University of South
Dakota.
Ruth passed away in 2014 and left the
groundwork of the memorial for her children.
They are continuing the dream shared by Stand-
ing Bear, Korczak and Ruth with the help of the
Crazy Horse staff and the board of directors.
Ziolkowski and Standing Bear designed the
mountain carving to be the centerpiece of the
greater goal – to bring education and cultural
understanding among all people. There is no set
completion date for the memorial and it is also
to include a Medical Training Center and an ex-
pansion of the Indian Museum of North Amer-
ica®.
Once comple